On January 30, Friends of Malabar Headland representatives met with Greg Hunt MP, the Federal Opposition Spokesman for Climate Action, Environment and Heritage, Senator Bill Heffernan and the endorsed Liberal Party candidate for the Federal seat of Kingsford-Smith.

One purpose of the meeting, which was attended by a number of local environmental activists, was to identify environmental projects for the Federal Opposition’s proposed Green Army, which would consist of thousands of volunteers working on environmental remediation projects throughout Australia.

Dr Feneley had proposed to Greg Hunt that a suitable Green Army project might be to assist the Friends of Malabar Headland, particularly focusing on our weeding and other activity in the eastern bushland section.

FoMH is not supportive of Malabar Headland as a Green Army project site because:

• an extensive program of civil works commissioned by the Commonwealth has commenced there and will run for more than a year
• there are workplace health and safety issues (WHS) specific to the site that are likely to be exacerbated by these works
• the work FoMH does is often painstaking; it is best done by small groups of experienced people who have the required patience and pay attention to minimising damage to ground level vegetation and areas of the endangered ecological community Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub
• as well as FoMH, at least one weed control contractor is already employed on site by the Commonwealth.

However FoMH sees merit in the Green Army proposal and agreed to try to identify other sites in the South Eastern peninsula where excellent work could be done by a “Green Army” as long as:

• the projects are carefully designed and managed
• effective supervision is provided.

Dr Feneley is understandably anxious to ensure that our area benefits from the enormous manpower on offer for environmental projects should a Coalition government be elected.

Dr Feneley explained that Green Army projects are intended to be highly collaborative and led by community environmental groups rather than being managed with a top-down approach. Each team would consist of 10 people, one of whom must be an experienced, salaried supervisor, while the others are young volunteers. These volunteers would be paid a training wage and would receive skills training and education for 20% of their project time.

At very short notice, FoMH produced a list of six projects that it considers are worthwhile and suitable for the Green Army as we understand it. The projects are:

• Weed removal, creek stabilisation and ground preparation, South Eastern Equestrian Club site, Matraville
• Bitou bush removal, bush regeneration and park creation, Little Bay Beach North at the site of the Male Lazaret (leper colony)
• Bitou bush and lantana removal behind Little Congwong beach
• Bitou bush and lantana removal, Happy Valley, La Perouse
• Removal of drift plastic and glass, Curwee Cove
• Bitou bush removal, reserved bushland areas Prince Henry north and south

The projects are outlined in a document prepared by FoMH – Potential Green Army Projects – South Eastern Peninsula.

This document was well received by Greg Hunt, Michael Feneley and Bill Heffernan who requested our permission to use it as a template for other groups preparing Green Army project proposals.

Other groups are welcome to read our document, comment on our proposals and develop their own proposals which they can pass on to Dr Feneley and Greg Hunt.

Friends of Malabar Headland has issued a media release welcoming the commencement of significant remediation works at Malabar Headland.

The release follows. For a PDF version, click here.

Media Release

Friends of Malabar Headland welcomes remediation of Malabar Headland landfill and contaminants

Friends of Malabar Headland (FoMH, “the Friends”) has welcomed the commencement of significant remediation works by the Commonwealth at the boundary of the Malabar Headland landfill site and South Maroubra Beach.

Peter Fagan Chairperson, Friends of Malabar Headland said:

“The negativity surrounding local member Peter Garrett and the changes taking place at Malabar Headland is hard to understand.

We are extremely pleased that Peter Garrett has persuaded the Commonwealth to spend millions to clean the site up so it will be safe to use as public open space and will no longer be a source of contamination for South Maroubra beach and its children’s rock pools.

The Commonwealth has already gifted the Western Bushland section of the headland to New South Wales as a National Park.

And we understand discussions are in progress with the NSW Government to enable the magnificent bushland and coastal scenery of the Eastern section of the headland to also become a National Park.”

FoMH believes the Commonwealth’s commitment of resources to the Headland − $2m for 2012/13 and $6m for 2013/14, and a dedicated project team led by a senior civil servant − is long overdue, and what is needed to get the job done properly.

Peter Fagan said:

“Serious contamination seeping out of the landfill on the headland is an issue FoMH has been concerned about since our inception over 12 years ago.

We are delighted that the Commonwealth is at last investing the resources required to achieve a long term solution.”

The Friends would like to see all candidates for the Federal election commit their support to the Commonwealth’s multi-year program of civil works and accept that the cessation of all recreational activities on the site is necessary until the works are complete.

Regarding horse riding on the headland, FoMH urges all candidates to support the efforts being made to establish the South East Equestrian Association (SEEA) on an interim site at Franklin Street Matraville.

Peter Fagan said:

“We urge all parties to help with funding, materials and labour to get the SEEA up and running at Franklin Street while the remediation works are in progress.”

Further resources:

Friends of Malabar Headland member Claire Bettington has prepared diagrams that illustrate how the Commonwealth’s program of works will address the contamination and hygiene problems. For more information and to view Claire’s diagrams, click here.

Work has commenced to alleviate leachate seepage from landfill on Malabar Headland and to direct stormwater drainage away from the children’s rock pools at South Maroubra beach.

The civil works, which are funded by the Commonwealth Government, formally commenced Friday 9 February and the current stage should be completed by June 30 2013.

Friends of Malabar Headland member Claire Bettington has prepared a series of diagrams that illustrate, as the Friends understand it, the complex drainage patterns and the interaction of leachate from the landfill beneath the rifle range, stormwater from Malabar Headland and Randwick City Council stormwater from South Maroubra.

The diagrams show the various flows to South Maroubra beach at present, which impact the children’s rock pools in particular. They illustrate how the Commonwealth’s program of works will address the contamination and hygiene problems these uncontrolled flows have caused up to the present.

To view Claire’s diagrams open or download this PDF file (1.4 MB).